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City plans massive tree boost for East Van

Neighbourhood breakdown shows total Vancouver canopy has fallen from 22.5 per cent in 1995 to 18 per cent

The tree-lined 3200-block of West 28th Avenue showcases the neighbourhood’s impressive canopy. The City of Vancouver wants to boost the tree population in city districts that lag the average.

Photograph by: Gerry Kahrmann
, Vancouver Sun

A city goal to plant 150,000 more trees in Vancouver by 2020 will focus on boosting the tree population in city districts — mainly in east Vancouver — that lag behind other communities, park board general manager Malcolm Bromley said Friday.

Canopy cover — how much ground is covered by tree leaf canopies as seen from the air — ranges from a high of 28.9 per cent in West Point Grey to a low of 5.9 per cent in Strathcona.

“Logic tells us that where it’s sparse, we should see what we can do to thicken it and increase the canopy,” Bromley said in an interview. “The first wave of planting should be to try to have some equity in tree distribution because we want everybody to enjoy the benefits of trees.”

The city’s total canopy cover has fallen to 18 per cent today from 22.5 per cent in 1995 and experts predict it will take about 40 years of concerted tree-planting efforts to return to the 22-per-cent level.

The five city districts with the highest canopy cover are West Point Grey (28.9 per cent), Dunbar-Southlands (28.1 per cent), Shaughnessy (27.1 per cent), Kerrisdale (24.6 per cent) matches and Killarney (23.9 per cent).

The five lowest canopy-cover communities include Strathcona (5.9 per cent), Downtown (8.3 per cent), Sunset (8.6 per cent), Renfrew-Collingwood (9.7 per cent) and Victoria-Fraserview (9.8 per cent).

A draft urban forest strategy report to be presented to city council next week says half of future tree-planting capacity in Vancouver lies within private property. City parks have 40 per cent of the capacity and city streets have about 10 per cent.

Bromley expects about half of the 150,000 trees to be planted over the next six years will be planted by private citizens, with the city doing the rest.

“If we can get a tree into the hands of the public and they plant it and water it on their property, it’s pretty affordable,” he said. “If we have to do it in the streets and it’s more complicated because of utilities and crews, it becomes more expensive.”

The city hasn’t set a budget for the tree-planting targets but the goal represents a massive increase in the number of trees planted annually — rising from an average of about 5,300 a year between 2010 and 2013 to 25,000 a year from 2014 to 2020.

Bromley said the city will encourage private efforts to plant trees by supporting programs that offer free or highly subsidized trees and mulch and workshops on tree canopies.

A program called TreeKeepers offers a variety of trees for a discounted price of $10 each. About 1,000 trees were sold last year and program organizers hope to boost that figure to 4,000 this year.

Maple, cherry and plum trees account for 52 per cent of all Vancouver trees, with myriad other species taking up the remaining 48 per cent — including linden, oak, beech, hornbeam and hawthorn.

Bromley said it’s hard to explain exactly why there’s such a discrepancy in the canopy cover throughout Vancouver.

“A lot of it occurred according to how the city evolved,” he said. “In some cases, there were farms in certain parts of the city and when you have a farm, you don’t have a forest.

“There were also competing interests, as some people wanted a view or more sunshine for their gardens or for themselves, so they cut down trees.”

Coun. Andrea Reimer said a proposed bylaw preventing Vancouver property owners from cutting down one healthy tree a year with no justification does not conflict with city plans for increased housing density, including laneway housing.

“Plans for increased density are very much focused on arterial routes and there’s generally not a lot of trees on private properties along arterials,” she said. “If you want to build a laneway house and there happens to be trees where you want to put it, staff would work to preserve as many trees as possible.”

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